Bioroid

Bioroid were a class of mecha series that is arguably most technologically advanced to date. The series was developed as a general purpose mecha for the Robotech Masters' warrior clones, who formed the combat and guard troops directly under the Robotech Masters leadership themselves. Requirements for this mecha were different than those for the Zentraedi mecha, for where the Zentraedi were created to conquer or to destroy, the early Bioroids were as much meant to police and to protect as to engage in combat.

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The Scientist triumvirates then developed an anthropomorphic mecha, which could carry armaments if needed in gun pods, to be equipped with an anti-gravity Skysled if mobility was necessary. This gave the Bioroids a very flexible configuration. In addition, the mecha was given the most advanced control and other technologies available. The cockpit was built as a sphere in which the pilot sat in a sort of yoga-attitude. Neural interfaces were built into the material of the cockpit, and were capable of rerouting the pilot's motor controls to the Bioroid. Thus, the Bioroid was 'worn' as if it were the pilot's own body, greatly increasing reaction time. This system required that the pilot have biological 'diodes' built into his motor nervous system, meaning that only specially configured clones could pilot this mecha. All internal systems were made multiply redundant, to such a degree that some Army of the Southern Cross officers have been known to say that only a direct hit to a vital spot like the pilot or generator could stop a Bioroid. Any other hit would, at most, slow it down. Needless to say, the Bioroid's sensor suite was state of the art.

There were five different series of Bioroids, as well as a little-known "Worker Bioroid", not detailed here. Most common was the standard Bioroid Soldier, always identified by its blue paint scheme. This Bioroid had a reasonable armor protection, but it was not the best available. The blue's armor was, however, far cheaper to create than the armor on the other Bioroids, and since the Masters were about as indifferent to their clone soldiers as to their Zentraedi soldiers, the blue Bioroid was produced in great numbers at relatively low expense. Because of the greater value of the clone officers to the Masters, it was decided that these should be issued more durable Bioroids than the standard blue. Thus the Bioroid Officer was created, known after its green color. This Bioroid was one ton heavier due to the improved armor protection, and thus also featured an enhanced generator to keep the same level of performance. Production of this series was rather limited, for quite soon after their introduction, the Scientists developed an even better armor type, that was as light and thick as the armor on the green Bioroid, but marginally cheaper to produce and better in performance than the green's armor.

Shortly afterwards, the well-known Red Bioroid Commander was walking off the assembly lines, derived from the Officer variant. The green leaders were kept in service, but were inferior in combat capacity to the red Bioroids, and thus only used for secondary tasks (like guarding the Masters' ships when the most red and blue Bioroids were not on board, or guarding the Second generation Bioroidsless likely avenues of attack). Less familiar was what has come to be known as the "Scout" Bioroid. Also painted blue, the Bioroid Scout can be distinguished by the three phased-array radar suites on the head, and the distinctive new body-type. The Bioroid Scout was equipped with the most extensive and most powerful sensors ever installed on a mecha, though virtually all details have been kept classified by the United Earth Government, and are not available as of this writing. The Bioroid Scout was often seen escorting the battlefield commander, often a Red Bioroid, though its blue color made it difficult to distinguish at a distance from the standard blue suits - and this anonymity lent it some protection from selective targeting in the thick of battle.

Bioroids used an advanced control unit that used "thinking cap" like devices.

The last Bioroid deserving attention was the Bioroid Invid Fighter. This new design was based on an uparmored Bioroid Scout, but was equipped with half a ton of additional psionic relays in a new head that lacked the Scout's extensive sensory equipment. This enabled the Bioroid pilot to remain in constant telepathic contact with his triumvirate brothers, and made them act in concert with each other, greatly increasing their combat effectiveness. This made them better suited to fight the large numbers of Invid that were threatening to wipe out the Masters. The Invid Fighters had one disadvantage, however: the remodeled head, with its extra electronics, was more vulnerable to attack than the heads of the other Bioroids, and destruction of the head meant destruction of the psionic link between the clone-brothers, and often even of the entire Bioroid because of a power surge from the remains of the head into the powerplant.

Though the Bioroids are most commonly referenced by color (or in the case of the latter two, function), the Tiresian names are also encountered. The Blue Bioroid is called Nous'dohl ("Warrior"), the Green T'siendral ("Sentinel") and the Red Gister'dohl ("Warlord"). Among the Tirolians, the Bioroid Scout was called T'sienramp ("Observer"). "Invid Fighter" is a direct translation of the Tiresian name, Inbida T'siendiel, though this mecha is also sometimes called the Lotus as an approximation to the Tiresian nickname, the word for the tripartate blossoms of the aquatic variety of the Invid Flower of Life.

The Bioroid was controlled by a mechanism unique to all Robotechmecha. While Battloids and Battle Pods use input from control sticks and pedals to translate pilot's intent to the mecha, and whereas Power Armors amplify limb movements to the mecha's own limbs, the Bioroid was completely mentally controlled. A series of biological "diodes" implanted into the pilot rerouted brain signals from the pilot's motor nervous system to the Bioroid's, making the Bioroid an extention of the pilot's own body. Because of this, and because of the unique servo system, the Bioroid was extremely difficult to disable without killing or incapacitating the pilot. A side effect of the control system is that when the pilot was improperly removed from the mecha, his/her nervous system could be damaged, and may become completely unresponsive.